'99 C5 92k miles.

Have had the chirp for awhile now, probably since about 65k miles. Originally replaced the belts with Gatorbacks and that didn't really help. Recently had to replace the main belt as it had walked up on to the edge of the pulley and started to separate. I notice that the balancer wobbles pretty good. I'm assuming that's the culprit and it needs replaced.

I just don't have the time to undertake the task of replacing it myself so I need to know what I should expect a reasonable shop to charge to replace it?

Other questions I have, is there anything else I should replace/add while this is getting done. Not made of money and this is a daily driver with very few mods (Vararam, Exhaust) but if there's anything I can do that will prolong my engine life I'm open to it. Should I replace the pulleys with underdrive units? What about the balancer itself, stock replacement or should I go aftermarket? Can I trust a local mechanic to swap out the cam, is it worth the cost and trouble to do that or should I just stay stock?

I also need tires and probably weather stripping replaced soon so like I said, trying to keep costs down wherever I can get bang for the buck.

 

personally i think you need to get the pulley off first and see what you have. Not really sure why it would be wobbling unless it was loose. just know that if you do decide to take on this project by yourself, the front cradle has to be loosened and the steering rack needs to be loosened and moved out of its perches so you can get at it.

Not sure what a shop would charge u. And i would not let just any shop work on my vette. Surely not do a cam swap. There are plenty of things that you could go alittle father and replace ( water pump gasket, front seal, front cover seal, but i wouldnt go that far into the motor unless one of them seals is leaking. IF you do have to buy a balancer, i would go aftermarket. they would prob cost the same lol just my .02

Hopefully guys that have been doing this alot longer then i have could chip in.
FREE BUMP FOR YA

 

This is a typical issue. It sounds like the balancer needs replaced. My Chevrolet dealer, who has a really good corvette mechanic, did it for $700 I think it was. That was on my 99 with around 50K on it at the time. I would only let a mechanic that you know is good with corvetts ever touch my care. I have passed up quite a few before I found Roger. I hope he is still there, it has been a while since I have been there. Anyway you need to take care of that before it comes apart on you. I personally would not drive the car until I had it fixed.

 

I too had the chirp and replaced the idler pulleys and then the belts. The pulleys didn't fix the problem so I read on the forum to try gator back belts. I chenged to gator backs and replaced both and the chirp was gone. The reason I post this is because I also have the drive/balancer wobble and apparently it is not causing the chirp at the present time. It could be that it will eventually wear out the gatorback belt and start the chirping again. Is that what happened to you?
I have not talked with a mechanic so I don't know how much wobble is accceptable. I would imagine it depends on your use like if you go to high RPM, track your vette, etc. I usually keep it in the low RPM range with wife in the car.

 

The balancers frequently fail on our cars. The wobble is the pulley is attached to the hub with a rubber material. The bond can fail and the result is the pulley moves in relation to the hub. This can be just a wobble, or it can progress to moving the pulley forward or rearward until it contacts things and causes a lot of damage.

It happens so frequently that I would recommend an aftermarket replacement. The stock one failed on my car at 30k miles. There are a lot of good aftermarket brands and many of them are underdrive so there is a little performance gain. I went with a Powerbond unit that is the standard size. It is the least expensive that I found. I think it was about $100 at O'Reilly's auto parts.

As for mechanics, I have had bad experiences with almost all of them that have done things for me, so I try to do everything myself.

This is not an easy repair though. There are some good threads on here that describe the process if you want to try it. You need to remove the steering rack to get enough room to remove the balancer. It is kind of a puzzle on how to twist and pull on it to get it out. To remove and install the balancer bolt you need to lock the motor. Many use a flywheel lock for automatics. On a 6 speed you can put it in gear and keep it from turning. Use an installation tool (or make one) rather than just using the bolt to draw it down or you may strip threads in the crank. The stock bolt is a torque plus angle that should not be reused and the new one needs a special method to tighten it properly. I went with an ARP replacement that uses a conventional torque setting.

If you do this repair, at least change the crank seal. You have done most of the work to change the timing chain, oil pump, and cam, so any of these would be a good time to do them, but are optional and you may not need them.

Good luck with your choice.

 

I also have a 99 with similar miles. I noticed a wobble and noted that the hub was indeed separating from the the rubber bond. I replaced it with a stock balancer from GM which I was told had been redesigned to prevent this problem in the future. The new balancer cost less than 100 dollars and i paid 360.00 for labor to have it installed. Don't forget that you will need a new crank bolt. I you have a chirp you might want to replace the AC pulleys while they are easy to get to.

 

good info